My iPhone has died.

*grrr*

Over the weekend the battery had gotten dangerously low (10% warning) - and the iPhone was on the verge of shutting down while we needed it to try and navigate towards Wrestlemania. Greg and Betty realized that they had an iPod car-charger onboard, so I borrowed it and plugged in.

A moment after I did so, the iPhone reset and rebooted twice - and then gave me a kernel panic and the screen filled with text. It was actually pretty cool to watch, though disturbing.

I picked up the iPhone, and the back of the case was shockingly hot to touch. Yikes!

I unplugged, and forced the iPhone to reboot by holding down the front and top buttons for ten seconds, and when it returned to life I put it into "Airplane Mode", guessing that the wireless radio combined with the charge current for the critically low battery had overwhelmed the charging circuit. Once in Airplane mode, the iPhone seemed to charge fine for the remaining 15 minutes of our drive.

Once inside the Citrus Bowl, I was able to use my iPhone to snap and email pictures, and place a few phone calls. The battery was still in the red, but the phone was working fine. After emailing a final picture off to my folks, I stuck the phone into my pocket.

About an hour later, I felt a brief vibration. I think that was my iPhone's dying gasp.

Later in the night, the iPhone was dead to the world. Nothing I could do would make it reset or wake up - the screen was hopelessly black. Once home, I plugged into both my laptop and the wall charger - but neither would bring the iPhone back to life. Even leaving it plugged in overnight did nothing.

Googling around, I've found reports of the iPhone charge circuitry sometimes failing and frying. I think that is what happened to me.

In theory, I should be able to take advantage of the 1yr Apple warranty - but since I have never activated on AT&T this may be tough. I will have to convince a Genius at an Apple store to swap my dead phone for a live one. But one catch - every Apple store in the state of FL is sold out of iPhones. There is a mysterious nationwide shortage going on right now. Even the Apple online store is out of stock..

The next generation 3G iPhone is due sometime between now and June. I was planning to buy that as soon as it is released. Now I am faced with the dilemma - do I limp along with my backup broken down Treo until then? Should I sell my dead iPhone on Ebay for parts (potentially worth up to $300)? Should I wait until the Orlando Apple store gets more equivalent iPhones in stock and try and sweet talk a warranty swap? Or...

I could even dissect my iPhone, order a new logic board for $200, and with some careful work, likely resurrect it.

I've gotten so used to having my email, web access, photo albums, and music with me all the time. It feels miserable to be without. Fortunately, I still have a Treo to fall back upon. But it does feel positively stone-age to use it.

*grrrr*